Brooks said anti-immigrant groups brand immigrants as criminals, \u201cdrains on society,\u201d and cultural threats to the United States, while anti-LGBTQ groups use demonizing rhetoric. <\/p>\n
Black people, she noted, remain the most frequent victims of race-based hate crimes. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe false belief that anti-Black racism no longer exists is a lie,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cBlack people have always been the number one target of race-based hate crimes.\u201d <\/p>\n
While the SPLC\u2019s mission is to stop hate groups, Brooks said the organization has also expanded its focus to helping families and educators shield young people from extremist influence \u2014 or intervene if they have already been indoctrinated. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey are out to get your kids, so you need to pay attention,\u201d she said. \u201cWhite young men between the ages of 13 and 30 are prime targets for these groups. Buying into lies around reverse discrimination or \u2018you don\u2019t have a place\u2019 \u2014 they are looking for your young person. You need to talk to your kids, your grandkids, about what it can mean to be White in a truly inclusive, multiracial democracy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Brooks, an alumna of Confluence\u2019s NCCJ Brotherhood Sisterhood Camp, also hosted an on-stage discussion with four youths who recently participated in the camp, which aims to empower students to build more inclusive communities. <\/p>\n
One high school student said she was shocked by the number of hate groups. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me fearful for my safety and also the safety of my peers,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Another student said the data left her unsettled. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know youth are supposed to be the future, and we are supposed to do something to combat these things, but just seeing the sheer number is crazy to me,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to figure out how to stop all of this.\u201d <\/p>\n
A third student, who is Mexican American, recalled a camp activity focused on hateful stereotypes. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese labels mean absolutely nothing,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a lot of hate in the world \u2014 don\u2019t worry about it. You have other people around you. Let\u2019s create a good environment. I was glad to be reassured that these labels mean nothing.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooks said anti-immigrant groups brand immigrants as criminals, \u201cdrains on society,\u201d and cultural threats to the United States,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-257208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}